


Red

by Whimsywisp



Category: Call of Duty (Video Games)
Genre: Age Difference, Angst and Tragedy, Canon-Typical Violence, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Torture, References to Depression, Slow Burn, Torture, references to Bell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-26 05:28:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30101028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whimsywisp/pseuds/Whimsywisp
Summary: A necklace and the tales of her Dada's bravery- the only two things in this world of disdain and contempt that push her to achieve her goal: To bring her Dada the justice he deserves.
Relationships: Russell Adler/Original Female Characters(s)
Kudos: 13





	1. Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Wispies!  
> So this is the new series that I've started to work on. The updating is going to be verrryyy slooowww, thanks to College 😒  
> Also, in the later chapter, there will be references to depression and a few other stuff, for which I will put up the trigger warnings.  
> Anyway, let's dive into Chapter 1!  
> Enjoy! ❤

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Wispies  
> So this is the new series that I've started to work on. The updating is going to be verrryyy slooowww, thanks to College 😒  
> Also, in the later chapter, there will be references to depression and a few other stuff, for which I will put up the trigger warnings.  
> Anyway, let's dive into Chapter 1!  
> Enjoy! ❤

If there was one thing Rei hated the most, it was the violent bloody images and memories that flashed in front of her every now and then. The worst was always when she would try to sleep. 

  
_Loud helpless screams, some crying for help, others out of pain or fright. Blood splattering out of every man's body, limbs flying across the skies like chunks of red paint. Victims groaning and moaning for one last sip of water or for one last second to chant a prayer. Some whisper the names of their loved ones, others whisper an apology for all the broken promises and all the unspoken words._

  
Vietnam- Da Nang- the bloodiest and the most traumatising war she'd witnessed. It was the first battlefield where she worked as a war correspondent (and not as an assistant or apprentice). Little did she know that her impeccable photography skills along with her natural ability to weave words into a spectacular tapestry of stories and her skill to slyly get through the enemy camp would soon be recognised by the CIA to recruit her into the team. Nothing went rampant, nothing went unnoticed, every detail was observed- eyes as sharp as a hawk and ears as keen as a bat- she was a gifted snoop. Or that's what the CIA thought of her after reading her notes and listening to whatever information she collected from the enemies.

  
Looking at herself in the mirror one more time before fixing her makeup for another mundane day at work, Rei sighed heavily. She held onto the little pendant on her necklace. It was a simple faded, almost rusted necklace with a pendant shaped like a 'star', _a red star_. It was the only remnant she had that belonged to her father...  
 _Dada...I hope you are proud of me. I will get you back home, soon. I hope you are alive and waiting. I am close._

  
She had never seen her Dada, except for a few pictures of him. She had only heard stories of his valour and bravery- his rebelliousness and determination to expose the truth to the world- a deed that he paid for dearly. _That he might be still paying for._  
Shaking her head, she put the thoughts aside, grabbing her bag and finally, ready to leave for work.

  
-  
"Iran-Iraq war? Surprised that I haven't been asked to go there." Rei muttered to herself, sitting in the cubicle. In fact, she was glad that she wasn't asked to go there. One could say that the whole atmosphere of sitting in a comfortable cubicle, lost in the company of all the buzzing bees in the office and piecing together the articles and notes that were sent to her was much better than actually being on the field. The CIA did spoil her that way. But...she did miss the thrill and the adrenaline surge through her veins. 

  
"Rei! Hudson would like to speak to you." Rei raised an eyebrow in surprise. Jason Hudson- CIA's most important agent. _What did he have to do with a mere analyst like her?_

  
Walking right behind Hudson's secretary, Rei's head was bombarded with several questions: _What did Hudson want with her? Does he want her to write something for him or go somewhere? Is it about the war going on?_

  
"Mr Hudson is waiting for you inside the room," Rei whispered a small thank you. Walking inside, with all the overwhelming thoughts twirling in her head, she tripped over her foot. Letting out a small yelp, she luckily didn't end up planting her face to the ground but fell on her knees. As thankful as she was about landing on her knees, she was, unfortunately, wearing a pair of 4-inch heels. 

  
A hand was held out, right in front of her face and she gladly took it. The unknown stranger helped her up. When she was finally up, she looked at him. He was a bald Mr Shades. _With a scowl._ Even with that scowl on, the glint of amusement in his eyes gave away the unfriendly facade that he tried to put up.

  
"Ah. I am sorry about that, and...uh...thank you for helping me up-" Rei rambled on until she was stopped by Mr Shades. 

  
"Yea. I am Jason Hudson. You are Rei Ivanov, correct?"

  
"Yes. I am Rei." She replied. Hudson motioned her to sit down. 

  
"So, you worked as a war correspondent during Da Nang and you had been recruited into the CIA. You've got some impressive credentials." Rei looked around the room while Hudson was busy going through her file. It was a rather large room, a big oval table in the middle, a television at the end and a few windows. _Maybe a room for all the meetings that the top-dogs attend..._

  
"Alright, Rei. You've got some potential. From now on, you will take your orders from me. You will be going with the team on a few of their missions and your job is to collect as much information as you can- pen it down, click it or whatever."

  
"But sir, I don't have any espionage training. I was only a journalist, now working as an intel analyst. I don't think-"

  
"Don't worry about that, wherever I send you, you'll be going with one of my most trusted and best officers. Also, you will only go from time to time. Plus, I am sure the whole concept of infiltration and sneaking into the enemy base is not new to you- you've done it once in Da Nang-"

  
"I almost got killed and I was about to lose my job!" Hudson rolled his eyes at Rei and continued.

  
"Well, you didn't. You got the info without even knowing that you did- something that helped us. Now your job is to go knowing that you have to collect intel. And you'll also get some fancy shiny toys that you will use to your advantage." Rei blinked a few times, still baffled.

  
"Sir, if I may ask, why me? Why not your other agents?"

  
"My other agents are involved with other work and right now we need anyone with some potential. Anything else?" Rei shook her head sideways. _'Anyone with some potential', huh. How kind of him to point out that she didn't belong here, with them._

  
"Good. You will meet Adler in a bit." Hudson stood up from his chair. 

  
"Who's Adler?"

  
"The officer who you will go in with." Rei's eyes trailed behind Hudson as he walked towards the other side of the room to get a couple of files. 

  
More and more thoughts and ideas of confusion clouded Rei's mind and she did not notice that 'UNCERTAINITY' and 'HESITATION' was clearly written on her face. And she hadn't noticed a new stranger walking into the room until Hudson placed a hand on her shoulder to pull her back to reality. 

_A familiar scent of expensive cologne and smoke filled the room._

  
"This is Adler and he's the one you'll be working with from now on." Mr Adler was seated in front of her. _Why does he look so familiar?_ Like Hudson, he too was a Mr Shades guy. But unlike Hudson, Rei found it hard to read or deduce him. He was a complete enigma, a man closed off from all emotions- a cold and dark aura radiated from him, yet there was a certain allure that Rei found irresistible to not succumb to. He stared at her for a good five minutes- from top to down- as if trying to analyse her. She felt bare to his aloof and critical eyes- she knew that he could read her like an open book. But the more she stared at him, _the more she felt she knew him from before...But where?_ Little did she know that Adler had already recognised her, but decided to keep his indifferent facade on.

  
"Hi." She gave her sweetest and the most charming smile that she could put on. But Adler, oh boy, he just kept looking at her like she was an idiot. He simply nodded to her and turned to face Hudson. 

  
"She knows about the situation?" Rei's eyebrows scrunched looking between Adler and Hudson as they discussed a _'situation_ '. She could just put together a few words that she caught on to: _'Stitch', 'Perseus', 'Gulag' and 'Safehouse'._

  
_Gulag?! Dada might be in the Gulag...That's where they keep the prisoners after all! Maybe they know about-_

  
"Rei? You here with us?" Hudson snapped his fingers in front of her eyes, startling the poor girl. Her big brown eyes grew wider in her sudden bounce to reality. Looking between Adler and Hudson, one word kept dancing around in her mind: _Gulag._

  
Rei opened her mouth to ask about the Gulag, but her logical side controlled her impulsive mouth. _After all...Any connections to Russia would definitely raise suspicions and if they decide to take me off the project, all my years of hard work and struggle would be a waste._

  
Shaking her head with a smile, Rei whispered a small apology. Hudson nodded lightly, continuing with his diatribe about the story of their recent joint mission in West Berlin. But Adler, caught the little moment when Rei opened her mouth but decided to swallow her words. He also caught the pendant of her necklace that she was playing with unconsciously when the word 'Gulag' was mentioned. Thinking that he was glaring at her fidgety and squirmy nature, she immediately dropped the necklace, focusing her attention on Hudson. Adler's piercing baby blue eyes kept steady contact on her, focusing on every detail: From her clothing to her little squirms.

  
"West Berlin was your first run-in with Perseus?" Rei asked Hudson. Just as he was about to answer, Adler interrupted. 

  
"No. We did have an encounter with Perseus a long time back, elsewhere. But that isn't important." Hudson raised his eyebrow, quizzically, at Adler while Rei just gave a small nod with an inaudible 'mhmm'. 

  
Clearing his throat, Hudson got Rei's attention back. "Anyway. For now, your job is to put together a few pieces of intel we managed to retrieve. Next week, you fly with us to West Berlin, check out a few leads and then we plan ahead from there. Any questions?" Rei shook her head sideways, her eyes glancing towards Adler who was still busy deciphering her thoughts. 

  
"Good. From tomorrow onwards, you will use the room adjacent to this. You can leave now." Rei smiled politely at Hudson and Adler with a nod and left the room. 

  
"Why didn't you tell her about Vietnam? I thought you both worked together." 

  
"I never worked with her. I've seen her around there and she's seen me. She knows something that we don't." Hudson kept looking at Adler icily. He never got the answer to his question, but that's Adler for you- his answers are never convincing and they're just as cryptic as him.

  
"Hmpf. Once in West Berlin, she's your responsibility." Adler glanced at Hudson briefly before staring at the place where Rei was seated. 

  
"What do we know about her, Hudson." It was more of a command than a question.

  
"Orphaned during a very young age, raised at some local orphanage. A bright student at school got into a top-notch university, graduated with International Relations and Journalism and the rest you know."

  
"Nothing about her parents?" Hudson looked through her file one last time.

  
"No. We just know that she might have roots in Russia, which is evident from her last name." Adler took one last puff from his cigarette and crushed it into the ashtray. Without another word, he left the room leaving Hudson alone in the now, dark lonely room. 

  
He pulled out his satellite phone and dialled a number, his fingers almost smashing the buttons. "Bloody technology," Adler muttered under his breath. "Sims. I need you to look upon someone."


	2. Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst, angst, angst!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Gore, blood, graphical description of corpses, panic attacks

Working with Hudson wasn't as bad as Rei thought it would be. Granted, he's one hell of a moody bastard, but atleast he let her have her peace instead of glaring at her with those predator eyes like Adler's.

"Mr Hudson! Who is Bell?" Hudson looked at Rei and glanced down at the file she was holding, a little spark of discomfort kindled in his eyes. "He was one of Perseus' agents who we managed to brainwash using the MK-Ultra. He was the most succ-"

"Mk-Ultra?! I thought that was a myth!" Hudson rolled his eyes, irritated at the girl's sudden interruption. She muttered a small 'sorry', biting her lower lip. _Gah, I'm an idiot. Control yourself, dammit._

"What happened to him?" "He had to be killed."

Rei's eyebrows knitted in confusion. Her face tilted slightly, in curiosity. Hudson sighed softly and sat up straight, readying himself to indulge in her curiosity.

"He was a loose end. He could turn his back anytime, we never know." Rei looked back at her file. It had a bloody handprint on it. She ran her hand over the handprint.

"Who killed him?"

"His handler, Adler." Rei inhaled sharply. So, he is putting my life in the hands of a man who can kill a person mercilessly. Lovely. Rei started fidgeting with her necklace again- too many questions swirled in her mind. _Can I trust Adler? What if he thinks of me as a loose end too? Is that why Hudson wanted him with me? He should never know about my fath-_

"What's on your mind?" Hudson stared into her dark chocolate brown eyes. He could see several questions sprouting from her head.

"It's just...He doesn't seem like the kind of guy I would like to work with. He just feels too...too closed off. I don't know if I can trust him." Hudson's lips curled into a small smile. He expected this to happen.

"Rei. If you're worried about Adler turning his back on you, remember this: Adler is responsible for you during the mission, after that you're under my wing. You won't be working with him as much as you will with me." Rei gave a small wry smile. _I am definitely not the first person Hudson has convinced about Adler's trustworthiness and goodwill._

"Anyway, speaking of Adler, he will come in tomorrow. He will brief you more on Bell if you're interested." Her face dropped into a sullen expression. For one whole week, much to her happiness, the scary-looking Mr Shades never crossed paths with her. It was as if he disappeared into thin air. Where he was, what he was doing, she did not care for it- she just didn't want to meet him and she prayed to every single God to make it happen. _For once, the Gods did listen to my prayers!_

"And a word of advice: Try not to get into his bad books," Chewing her thumbnail unconsciously, Rei bombarded her head with several scenarios. _Wait...he advised me. Does that mean- Oh God, I am already a red flag to him. Fuck._

"Okay. Thank you, Mr Hudson." _Back to the theatrics again, huh._

"Also, your flight to West Berlin has been scheduled for tomorrow, 3 am. Don't miss it." _3 am?! Goddamit Hudson!_ Rei dramatically banged her head against the table, earning a small chuckle from the older man.

-

"Is that all we have on her? Nothing more?" Adler asked Sims.

"Nope. That's all we have. She looks pretty innocent to me, Doc. I wouldn't worry about her if I were you." Adler kept skimming through Rei's file for the nth time in the week. He could find nothing about the girl, except whatever Hudson had told him.

"That's exactly what bothers me. It's always the innocent ones." Sims raised an eyebrow at Adler. He wasn't looking at him, he was looking elsewhere. Following his line of sight, Sims finally understood who he was staring at, or more like, glaring at. _Rei Ivanov_. When he looked closer, it wasn't Rei who was in his line of sight. It was the object that she held onto which Adler threw his fierce glare at. She was busy playing with her pendant again and in her hands, she held the _brown file with the bloody handprint. Bell's file._ Stuffing the file into a little owl-shaped bag, the girl left Langely.

Adler's eyes trailed after Rei for a bit, till she was out of the man's sight. Sighing deeply he walked back to the office.

"Ah should have got my favourite winter coat." The girl wriggled in her sweater dress uncomfortably.

Back in her home, she immediately rushed towards the kitchen for a cup of hot cocoa. It was a simple yet sophisticated home. Black sofas with pink rugs and fairy lights adorned on the walls. A few pictures of some of the places she had been to during her time as a War Correspondent was neatly arranged on top of the small fireplace that she lit up whenever she felt lonely. _Today was one of those days._

Curling on one of the sofas with her favourite cat plushie in one hand and hot cocoa in the other, Rei stared at the fireplace, the fire blazing in its pristine orange. She slowly leaned back, closing her eyes lightly. A lone tear-drop fell off her eye as she slowly started to walk down the memory lane.

_Fire._

_Screaming._

_Fire._

_A smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The skin of the burnt victims almost melted away, bones painted with blood-red sticking out of the corpses. Little moths sat on top of the corpses, devouring the flesh. Limbs hanging from a tree or a broken pole, some corpses with a body part missing, others have their intestines splattered out. Suddenly, two bloodied hands engulfed her. Turning around, she saw a man without half a face- his inners sticking out._

Rei gasped for breath as she opened her eyes. She fell off her sofa, her coca spilt on her expensive rug. She couldn't breathe- there was a pain in her chest. Clenching her chest, Rei tried to crawl towards the phone, but she couldn't move. She cried and cried- her tears flowed endlessly from her big doe-like eyes.

"Stop crying. Stop crying." She whispered to herself, slowly focusing on her breathing- her therapist's advice. That did the trick. It took her a good 15 minutes to recover from her sudden breakdown- one she had every night. She looked up at the clock. It was 4 hours to 3 am. "I should pack, then leave. The maid can clean my rug." She muttered to herself slowly, trying to stand up with the help of the handle of her sofa.

-

"In short, the flight was shit, I am sleepy and I am starving," Hudson chuckled at Rei's extremely irritates answer. He had agreed to pick up Rei, thankfully, and brought her some food too, a sub with a nice cup of hot cocoa.

"How did you know I love cocoa?" Hudson smirked lightly, his eyes glued to the road.

"I am an agent for a reason, Rei." Rei rolled her eyes at the very vague reply. She continued munching on her sub, hungrily and trying to not make a mess in his car, which was extremely difficult for the poor girl.

After a very boring and painful two hours of travel, including pestering Hudson every five minutes with the question 'Are we there yet?'; the duo finally arrived at the safehouse. It was a big rusty monstrous building. It did have an eerie aura to it. Rei looked around the safehouse- it was just a green barren land.

"Come on in Rei, I want you to meet someone." A wave of social anxiety splashed over Rei as she awkwardly walked into the safehouse. Her nails dug deep into the soft flesh of her thumb and her teeth bit into her inner lips, drawing a little blood from the force.

"This is Helen Park, from MI6. She will be the one who will help you around with cross-referencing any intel we get." _MI6! She's British, then? Must be an old acquaintance of the team._

Helen was a beautiful woman. She had a certain light charisma that radiated from her- one that was hard not to ignore. She did seem like a person one would immediately open their hearts out to- maybe because of her friendly and warm aura that was strikingly different from Hudson's and Adler's cold aura. _Especially Adler's dark and unfriendly one._ Rei shuddered at the thought of her first meeting with Adler lightly, but lucky for her, both the agents never noticed it. Putting on her famous charming smile, Rei politely introduced herself to her, overemphasising her innocent exterior. _Atleast her innocent face should keep me out of trouble._ She hoped. And just as she hoped, Park did take in her innocent act. _Good job Rei!_

"Alright time for work," Hudson shouted out to the women. While Hudson was busy talking to Park about some meeting that should happen later, the evidence board had a picture of an old man in black and white, with a few red strings connecting him to other pictures that caught Rei's eye. _Perseus._

"Rei, go to that room, there are a few files there. Try to piece together whatever you can. Park, you know what to do." Rei nodded, walking towards the room that Hudson had pointed out to.

It was a dark and dusty room. _Cold too._ Rei placed her bag on her table and fished through it. She pulled out a few papers that she had kept in her bag. They were some information about the operational Gulags and another tattered picture.

_Thank you Rebecca for pulling those strings._

Rebecca, a close friend of Rei's was one woman who could pull several strings to get any amount of information. She knew quite a lot of people in the CIA- a few of them high up the food chain. She got Rei whatever she could get her hands on about the Gulags. And a small photograph of someone by the name Victor Kuzmin. Taking the files Hudson had asked her to study, Rei kept them in front, the papers of the Gulag and Victor on her lap.

"Okay! Time to start my reading on these. Maybe after my homework, I can casually pick a conversation with Hudson about the Gulag. No, maybe not Hudson." Rei kept trying to break her head over who to approach for the info about any recent survivors from the Gulag, but then there would be a high chance that she would be suspected, not to mention, her last name itself would have definitely raised a lot of eyebrows. _Especially Adler's antennas, no doubt._

"Interesting, you're into Gulags." That dark gravelly voice. Adler. _How the fuck did I not see him come in! Now he's definitely going to doubt me_. "Nice necklace," He exhaled his smoke, closing the door behind him, walking towards the young girl. The girl prayed and invoked all the Gods- old and new-to help her get out of the situation alive and unharmed.

"Ah yes. They pluck on my imagination- the whole setting of it. Quite poetic too- darkly poetic if someone were to write about, you know, a survivor who's been rotting in there for years, now out of the hellhole ready to-" Rei stopped herself immediately. _I should have just stopped with poetic. Now he definitely thinks I'm looking for someone and from the looks of it, he might as well think I'm one of them._

"Mhmm. True." He walked closer to Rei, standing right next to her. "A few days back a certain someone, a sort of a ghost from my past who I believe was rotting in the Gulag, escaped from there. Intel has it that he's one of Perseus'." He now said, looking at the tattered picture of Victor Kuzmin below the papers of the Gulag. _Ah. So it was him who escaped._

Rei kept her expressionless facade on. On the inside, she was breaking and churning in fear and panic. She put on her innocent smile with big eyes. "Ah. How unfortunate. I hope you get him soon." Adler kept his steady glare at the girl, a scowl now forming. Sensing the tension, Rei's first instinct was to leave before she accidentally slipped something else, which will be interpreted as further something else by Adler.

"Uhm. It is late. I should get back to my apartment." She tried to slip away from Adler, but he caught her arm, his fingers deeply dug in her skin. The girl slightly winced in pain, looking up at the older man.

"Hudson trusts you, but I don't. If I catch you stepping out of the line again, I will kill you."

The girl now put on her bitter face. _When the hell did I step out of the line, asshole?!_ She couldn't stand his arrogance anymore. "And maybe you should try and keep your nose off my life." Never in a million years did she realise that she would regret the words that fell of her mouth. _Fool! He's a fucking spy!_

"You forget who I am Ivanov. I run the show here." His eyes glanced at the red necklace. Grabbing the pendant to his eye level, he looked back at her.

"I won't be surprised if you turn out to be one of them. Advice: If you are, don't let me catch you." Rei scoffed at the man.

"And what, you're little threat is supposed to make my knees go all wobbly and make my lips quiver in fear?"

"They are already wobbly, Ivanov." _This man's ego..._

"Wobbly out of anger! And I would like to be called Rei, if you please!" The girl darkly growled at him, earning a sharper glare from the man.

"Fucking brat," Adler muttered, letting the girl go.

Once he was gone, she immediately rushed to the washroom nearby, locking it from the inside. Uncontrolled tears rolled down her eyes. Never had she been this intimidated by anyone in her life. _And he is the guy I am supposed to work with. Thanks, Hudson._

Outside the safehouse, Adler lit up another cigarette.

"Weaver, I need you to look upon someone for me. Her name's Rei Ivanov. Also, see if you can find someone in the Gulag by the name 'Ivanov'."

"Alright. I will see what I can get, Adler." Adler ended his call.

Looking back up at the skies, he tried to mentally chart a connection between Rei and Stitch, but he could make none. "Who is she and who exactly is she searching for?" Adler ran a hand over his chin, deep in thought.


End file.
